Stay
by Megwill
Summary: Anthropologically speaking the human race had never been able to resist it. It is euphoric and unexplainable. It healed internal wounds, saved lives and created them. It found its way into the most hopeless of times and places, and tonight, love had done all of that. "I told you I was unable to change, but I also told you change was inevitable." some flashbacks.


Flashbacks then present...hope you enjoy. Lovely song if you don't know it I would give it a go Stay by Hurts.

* * *

"_We say goodbye in the pouring rain  
And I break down as you walk away.  
Stay, stay.  
'Cause all my life I've felt this way  
But I could never find the words to say  
Stay, stay."_

_Stay by Hurts  
_

* * *

Brennan lay on the couch in Booth's apartment thinking of so many things. Vincent and why he had asked her to let him stay. Her brilliant mind continued to race of yesterdays. Suddenly, like rapid fire, memories flooded her mind. Everything felt so real, it was overwhelming. She thought of the Eames case, Maluku, Hannah, Vincent, but mostly she thought of Booth.

She could have lost him tonight and the thought of losing him was unbearable. He was her constant in an ever changing world. The one person she ran too and trusted with her life was him. She broke tears fleeting down her face faster than she could wipe them away. A slide show of yesterdays raced through her mind.

_ It was night, he was going to fire her and they were drinking tequila together. They ran outside into the pouring rain. They kissed for the first time that night. Then, per usual, she left leaving him standing in the rain. She turned around to look at him out of the back window of the cab, his stunned face burned into her mind._

She started to hold back muffled cries as she pulled the comforter up over her a bit more. Then before she could stop her mind from taking her away again, she found herself launched into yet another memory.

_She looked up to see Booth walking toward her in Reagan International airport and walked over to him as quick as she could. He was leaving for a year into a war zone and she was leaving to the Maluku Islands. She took his hand in hers and told him not to be himself, not to be a hero. Pleaded silently with him to forgive her for rejecting him and told him she loved him. He told her they would meet in a year at 'their' coffee cart. _

_Then they parted ways, and she looked back watching him leave. He watched her walk away from him as well. She remembered all she wanted to do was call out his name, run to him and tell him to stay. Though, her hand slipped out of his without a word. It was harder then she ever imagined watching him walk away, letting him go. Though, she had too, life stops for no one.  
_

She exhaled as she snuggled deeper into his couch inhaling his worn shirt. Again she squeezed her eyes tight as another flashback struck her full force and she started to cry a little harder. Her tears fell easily onto his pillow, soaking it in the dark.

_Her mind jumped back to one of the more painful memories they shared together. The night he confessed he wanted to give them a shot. That he wanted a relationship and she turned him down. He cried, she cried. They were both hurt. Though, when you love someone you open yourself up to suffering. Those are the risks she was afraid to take, because she knew it to be the truth._

_She was scared of being in a relationship with him. What if she messed things up and hurt him? What if she lost him as a friend? She couldn't risk that. He was scared it was his last chance and things would never work with the one woman he loved the most. It wasn't a good night. Hearts were crushed._

Brennan dug her head into the pillow Booth gave her and sniffled rubbing her head into it to dry her tears as she inhaled him. Like lightning her synapses' fired off another memory. It struck and she inhaled letting out a soft cry fisting the blanket he gave her. Some things you don't want to remember.

_She replayed the afternoon she met Hannah and saw Booth kiss her. Hannah had made his eyes light up, she made him happy. At that moment Brennan's world shifted and she realized she had in fact missed her chance with her partner. He was in love with Hannah and she didn't come close to Hannah. At least that is what she had told herself that night as she cried herself to sleep. She wondered if Booth knew she cried that night._

She squeezed the pillow tighter. Trying to get more comfortable she repositioned herself on the couch. She still ached all over, internally and externally. The only comfort was his pillow.

_The Eames case was a tough one on Brennan. Though, it wasn't just the actual case, but the eerily similar traits she and the victim shared. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she was identifying with her and it was not good for her psyche. Tonight she was alone at the Jeffersonian. She listened to recordings of Lauren Eames via earphones and Booth kept ebbing his way into the back of her mind. _

_She didn't know that case was just one of the many catalysts that lead up to the moment where she spread her wings and allowed herself to fly. _

All too soon another flashback overtook her senses and she inhaled sharply. Letting out a shaky breathe she held tight to the comforter for the next ride she was about to board down memory lane.

_Hannah had called Brennan and told her she rejected Booth's proposal. Brennan didn't know why Hannah called her. Maybe it was because she knew that she was Booth's best friend. She would always be his best friend. When she found him he was angry at women and wondered why no one wanted him. But she did, she was ready for a relationship. Though, now he wasn't. She had never told Booth, but it made her mad Hannah had made him so happy and then crushed his heart. She told her to be careful with Booth's heart because he gave all of himself when he loved someone. She didn't listen.  
_

Her chest started to burn and rack with silent sobs as the next memory struck her. It hit her hard and she finally allowed herself to break down a little more.

_It was pouring rain as they drove back in her car to the Jeffersonian. Booth saved her life by pushing her out of the way of the vehicle that night. Then she did it. She opened herself up to him and told him she didn't want any regrets. Though, he was with Hannah and so he rejected her. It hurt. She cried. She broke down as he glanced at her awkwardly and she told him her whole world had just turned upside down, but she could adjust. He had. That was a lie. She had no idea how to feel. Only that it hurt, she now knew how he felt the night she rejected him. She had no idea it hurt so bad._

She inhaled a shaky breathe reality finally hit her full force as her world came to an abrupt halt. Her flashbacks now over, she came back to the present. She thought of Vincent and didn't know what she would do if Booth had answered that call. Then she tossed the blanket aside swung her legs to the floor and made her way to Booth's room.

She slowly opened his door and he sat bolt upright pointing the gun at her.

"I'm sorry…I just…"

"Did you hear something?" Booth asked.

"No." came her meek reply.

"Do you want me to put the gun away?" he asked and Brennan nodded yes.

"Booth?"

"What is it Bones?" He asked.

"Vincent, he…he asked me not to make him leave Booth. I would never make him leave. Why would he think that? Am I a bad person Booth?"

"No, no. You got it all wrong Bones." He motioned for her to sit on the edge of the bed next to him. She made her way over and sat down.

"Yes, I heard him Booth and so did you. We were the only two people there. He wasn't speaking to you." Brennan stated.

"He was speaking to God Bones. He didn't want to die." Booth said rubbing her back and squeezing her shoulder.

"No Booth, Vincent was an atheist like me." Brennan countered.

Booth remembered a certain night that she told him of signals and the universe. "He was speaking to the universe then." Booth said and Brennan accepted this, face crumbling.

"Can we just…" Brennan asked starting to rest her head on Booth's shoulder, but hesitating and pulling it back. He quickly subside any hesitation she had. His arms enveloped her in a hug and pulled her atop him her tears now falling on his chest; not a lonely pillow.

"Of course that's why I'm here." He said rubbing her back, while she finally allowed herself to break down completely in his arms. "It's going to be alright, shh everything is alright. I gotcha Bones." Booth soothed as she cried for Vincent and for yesterdays she wished she could sometimes change.

Time passed with Booth clinging to Brennan and her to him. With every tear shed they became a little closer to a new beginning.

He placed a kiss in her hair, it smelled so - Bones. Her voice pierced the silence, "Booth?"

"Yeah, Bones?"

"I thought about other things than Vincent on the couch." Brennan admitted.

"Like what?" Booth asked.

Brennan was silent contemplating how she should word things.

"Mainly of us." Brennan admitted.

"Oh." They were silent a bit. "What about us?"

Brennan was quiet in thought. "I've come to realize that maybe you are in fact right and love is real. Plus, I have contradicted myself."

"How?" Booth asked and silence lingered as Brennan found words.

She looked up at him, "I told you I couldn't change, but I also told you change was inevitable."

Her eyes remained locked onto his and Booth inhaled realizing how far she was allowing herself to walk out on that tightrope without anything below to catch her if she fell.

"Bones?"

"Yes?"

"That's okay everyone gets it wrong sometimes." Booth said swallowing the lump in his throat.

"Thank you Booth for letting me…just…" Brennan started, but couldn't find the words to finish her sentence.

"Always Bones, that's why I'm here." Booth said and Brennan nodded pushing off his chest starting to get up.

Booth's eyes became a bit frantic, he was losing her again. She was about to walk out of his bedroom door. Impulsively he wrapped his arms around her waist holding her tight.

Brennan looked down at him and her brow furrowed. "What's wrong Booth?"

"I…you…you don't have to go. I mean if you want to leave Bones, its okay. I mean…If that is what you want." Booth said and Bones didn't move her hand still rest on his chest supporting her weight as she contemplated his words.

"You don't want me to stay?" she asked.

"No I do." Booth said.

"Then why did you say twice if I want to leave I can? It sounded as if you were insinuating you did not want me here." Brennan asked his chest no longer supporting her as she sat up atop him. His arms still loosely wrapped around her waist.

"I like you here Bones." Booth said. "It's okay, you can stay."

"I like being here as well." Brennan said lying back down to her place on his chest.

God, thought Booth. She was the most indecisive person he knew one second and the next one hundred percent sure of what she wanted. She was crazy, yes, but so was he. She grounded him. He couldn't let her go.

"So you want to-" Booth was cut off by Brennan.

"Stay?" Brennan said, looking up to Booth. Her lips met his again and again. Before either of them realized it he had removed her shirt, she was now bare-chested in front of him.

"Are you sure about this Bones? I don't want you to regret anything in the morning." She continued to kiss him feverishly. Things were moving much faster than Booth had ever imagined. It was six years of pent up tension releasing, this wasn't love making this was more like prom night. He didn't want that for Bones, she was different, but his body disagreed. Her hips placed strategically over his she reluctantly released his lips from hers to answer him.

"Booth, I already told you I don't want any more regrets. Booth I have rejected you and I regretted that in Maluku. That hurt, but not as bad as when I too was rejected by you when I told you the night I solved the Eames case of how I felt." Brennan inhaled and exhaled, but eyed Booth warning him she was not yet finished.

"…Booth we sat trapped in an elevator a few months ago and I said maybe when you weren't angry anymore and I had lost the last of my imperviousness then we could be a couple. We made a wish on a piece of paper and wrote down a date we thought we wished to one day be together…" Tears streamed down Brennan's face as she propped herself up a bit looking him directly in his eyes.

"…Booth…I…if it were you that picked up that phone…I just…I would have an extremely hard time coping with your…damn it Booth! I don't know what I would do if I lost you! You are my best friend Booth!" She had lost it as tears fell and emotions spilled with all of the unsaid words. "So yes…I have complete confidence in myself that I will not regret this in the morning. I am very certain I do not want to leave this bed and would like to stay here!" She exhaled overwhelmed by her own words. Her eyes danced wildly in his as she tried to digest the words she let fly from her lips register.

Before she could comprehend what was happening, his lips were devouring hers and she was kissing him back just as fierce. His hands tangled in her hair, and slid down her back. She quickly shed his pants and he hers. As the late morning ensued he rolled them over and two became one losing control again and again.

As they lay catching their breath her voice pierced the silence.

"Booth?"

"Yeah Bones."

"Am I more than an atta girl?" Bones asked meekly and it took Booth a second to understand and then he smiled.

"More than you will ever know Bones." Booth replied holding her a bit tighter, "more than you will ever know."

"You too Booth." Brennan smiled snuggling her head back into its spot and wrapping her arm around him a little tighter.

Love, it is an irrational emotion. It hurts in the worst possible way. It is a huge risk to take, falling in love. Would one hit the cement or would ones wings spread before the inevitable? The risk didn't seem to matter. The high always seemed to outweigh the low. Love blindsides the most rational of people for it does not discriminate.

Anthropologically speaking the human race had never been able to resist it. It is euphoric and unexplainable. It healed internal wounds, saved lives and created them. It found its way into the most hopeless of times and places, and tonight love had done all of that.


End file.
